(Ap)Praising Vetements: the Celebrity Digital Surface and the Making of a Leading Fashion Brand

Autori

  • David Sanchez-Aguilera UC San Diego

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/7603

Parole chiave:

Commodity Fetishism, Reality Television, Instagram, Demna Gvasalia, Meme

Abstract

In this paper, I situate the meteoric rise of the Parisian fashion collective Vetements within the paratextual circulation of celebrity images that have accompanied the press, media, and publicity coverage for this brand. I argue that “selling out” is a pithy turn-of-phrase that is useful for understanding Vetements’ aesethetic and business sensibilities. As the literalness of the translation of Vetements into “clothes” makes clear, Vetements strips the wide-eyed lure of luxury fashion –one that evokes both the extravagancy of the runway or red carpet and the expert craftsmanship of couture—and replaces it with a form of what I am calling spectacular mundanity, offering products that are simultaneously more and less real than your mother’s weathered, vintage Champion hoodie. The brand’s exchange value, I argue, is made extravagant not through any notion of intrinsic worth, as is the case with couture and the logics of congealed labor and expert craft held therein, but rather through the symbolic surplus value generated through the brand’s proximity to celebrity culture and its discursively constructed status as an “it brand”. 

Riferimenti bibliografici

Appadurai, Arjun (2016), The social life of things: commodities in cultural perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baudrillard, Jean (1988), “Simulacra and Simulations” in Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster, Stanford, Stanford Press.

Brown, Wendy (2015), Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution, Massachusetts, Zone.

Dyer, Richard, and Paul McDonald (2011), Stars, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Edelman, Lee (2004), No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Durham, Duke University Press.

Hebdige, Dick (1979), Subculture. The Meaning of Style, London, Routledge.

Jameson, Frederic (1993), “Postmodernism and Consumer Society”, in Postmodernism, Or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, London, Verso.

Lacan, Jacques (1992), The Seminar. Book VII. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959–60 (trans. Dennis Porter), London, Routledge.

McRobbie, Angela (2011), “Secondhand Dresses And The Role Of The Ragmarket”, in The Fashion Reader, Oxford, Berg.

Mirzoeff, Nicholas (2010), An Introduction to Visual Culture, New York, Routledge.

Morgado, Marcia A (2007), “The Semiotics of Extraordinary Dress: A Structural Analysis and Interpretation of Hip-Hop Style”, in Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 25, 2.

Pham, Minh-Ha T (2015), Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet: Race, Gender, and the Work of Personal Style Blogging, Durham, Duke Press.

Thompson, Krista (2014). “The Sound of Light: Reflections on Art History in the Visual Culture of Hip-Hop”, in The Art Bulletin, 91, 4.

Žižek, Slavoj (2009), The Sublime Object of Ideology, London,Verso.

Adams , Ariel, Luxury Consumers Value Products, Not Buying Experiences, in “Forbes” , May 23rd, 2013 (http://www.thedailybeast.com/has-the-fashion-week-runway-had-its-day/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Arthur, Rachel, Digital Pioneer Burberry Does It Again, This Time Radicalizing Its Whole Fashion Calendar, in “Forbes*“,* February 5th, 2015 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelarthur/2016/02/05/digital-pioneer-burberry-does-it-again-this-time-radicalizing-its-whole-fashion-calendar/#79d8189a5c7c/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Blanks, Tim, The Genius of Vetements in “The Business of Fashion”, July 4th, 2016 (http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/the-genius-of-the-vetements-demna-gvasalia/) | last view December 1st, 2017).

Blanks, Tim, The Revolution Will Be Branded 'Vetements', in “The Business of Fashion”, 24 January, 24th, 2017 (http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/the-extraordinary-in-the-ordinary-at-vetements/) | last view December 1st, 2017).

Brook , Yaron. Radical Capitalist Episode 72: Trump Won, What Next?, November 9th, 2016 (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yaronbrook/2016/11/12/radical-capitalist-episode-72-trump-won-what-next?fb_action_ids=10154949382878570&fb_action_types=og.comments/ | last viewed December 1st, 2017).

Cronberg , Anja Aronowsky. Examining the Reporting of the Vetements Phenomenon, in Vestoj, 2015 (http://www.vestoj.com/the-revolution-will-be-branded-vetements/ | last viewed December 1st, 2017).

Fernandez , Chantal, Why Vetements Is Moving to Zürich, in The Business of Fashion, March 17th, 2017 (http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/why-vetements-is-moving-to-zurich/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Fury, Alexander, The Label Vetements Is the Most Revolutionary Thing to Come Out of Paris in Over a Decade. So What’s the Big Deal, in The Independent, October, 16th, 2015 (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/the-label-vetements-is-the-most-radical-thing-to-come-out-of-paris-in-over-a-decade-so-whats-the-big-a6692211.html/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Highland , Veronique, Is See-Now-Buy-Now Just a Trend, or the Future of Fashion? in The Cut, March 27th, 2017( (http://www.thecut.com/2017/03/see-now-buy-now-fashion-effectiveness.html/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Markovinovic, Monika, Valentino’s African-Inspired Spring 2016 Campaign Accused Of Cultural Appropriation, in “HuffPost Canada”, Jan 18th, 2016 (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/01/18/valentino-cultural-appropriation_n_9009840.html/ | last view Dec 1st, 2017).

Marshall , Alexandra, The Cult of Vetements in The Wall Street Journal, June 24th, 2016 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cult-of-vetements-1466760601/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Mitchel, Timothy, Celebrities Are Dropping $800 for This Sold-out Hoodie, in New York Post, March 28th, 2016 (http://www.nypost.com/2016/03/28/celebrities-are-dropping-800-for-this-sold-out-hoodie/ | last viewed December 1st, 2017).

Sharkey, Lauren, Can Vetements Maintain Its Place as the Master of Hype? in StyleCaster, May 26th, 2016 (http://www.stylecaster.com/vetements-satire-fashion/ | last view December 1st, 2017).

Singer , Melissa, The Homely Hoodie Gets a Not-so-Humble Makeover, in Sydney Morning Herald, July 19th, 2017 (http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-homely-hoodie-gets-a-notsohumble-makeover-20170703-gx3q0r.html/ | last viewed December 1st, 2017).

Spronk , Kiera, Every Time a Celebrity Wore Vetements, in Elle Canada, July 11th, 2016 (http://www.ellecanada.com/fashion/celebrity-style/article/every-time-a-celebrity-wore-vetements | last viewed December 1st, 2017).

Stoppard, Lou and Norris, Lucy, “SHOWstudio: London Womenswear - Autumn / Winter 2016 Round up Panel Discussion”, March 30th, 2017, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1QY0cN_9g0&t=1521s | last view December 1st, 2017).

Pubblicato

2017-12-29

Come citare

Sanchez-Aguilera, D. (2017). (Ap)Praising Vetements: the Celebrity Digital Surface and the Making of a Leading Fashion Brand. ZoneModa Journal, 7(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/7603